Macaulay Culkin

The late 20th century's answer to the juggernaut child star success of Shirley Temple, Macaulay Culkin ruled Hollywood as a preteen, but had difficulty sustaining a second act. Acting almost since inf...
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Robert Iler, who plays the son of Tony Soprano on the HBO series The Sopranos, was arrested early Wednesday with three other youths in New York and charged with two counts of second-degree robbery and one count of marijuana possession.
The 16-year-old actor was arrested after the police reportedly saw Iler and his friends robbing two teens of $40 in Manhattan's Upper East Side, The Associated Press said.
According to police records, Iler was released after posting $2,500 bail. He pleaded not guilty to the charges. Michael Cournede, 19, and Alban Selimaj, 16, pleaded innocent to two counts of second-degree robbery. The fourth suspect, 15, will face charges in Family Court because of his age.
Iler didn't threaten anyone or hear anyone ask for money, Steven Mintz, Iler's lawyer, said.
"He only learned what had happened much later when he was picked up," Mintz told AP.
In a statement following his arrest, Iler said he felt embarrassed about the incident and was sorry for the difficulty it caused his family and friends. He also maintained his innocence, claiming he would never rob anyone.
Iler's mother, Helen, told AP that this was the first time her son had been in trouble and that he is not like the troublemaker he plays in The Sopranos.
Iler could face a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison if convicted on the top count of robbery. A hearing is set for Monday.
Despite Iler's arrest, HBO spokeswoman Tobe Becker said that the cable network is looking forward to Iler returning to The Sopranos when production resumes in the fall.
Iler began acting at 6 years old, when he appeared in a Pizza Hut commercial. He made his first film, The Tic Code, at 10 years old.
Iler's mother told reporters that it was the first and last time her son would ever get into trouble.
Stardom causes problems for some teens
Child actors have a reputation for screwing up their lives. Former child actors who have survived a Hollywood upbringing are often praised just for being normal.
What happens to child actors that leads them too often to a life of crime and drugs?
Paul Petersen, who played Jeff on The Donna Reed Show, said he thinks that child actors are more vulnerable because of their parents. They quickly learn that approval is a simple matter of liking what their parents like.
"Seeking approval is a key feature of being a child along with fearing abandonment and the fear of falling … and children are very quick to pick up the vibes," Petersen said in a statement on a Web site for the nonprofit organization A Minor Consideration.
Petersen started A Minor Consideration to help and support child actors.
Children often feel trapped and have a hard time explaining to their parents that they do not want to continue in show business, he said.
"The profile of this family is familiar," he said. "Undereducated, often a single-parent home with a crushing debt load, and parents willing to sacrifice their careers for their child."
Petersen calls this the old lottery thinking: "You give me a dollar, and I'll give you 56 cents."
If found guilty, Iler will join an unpopular but large club of troubled Hollywood teens.
In May, 18-year-old Brad Renfro was charged with underage drinking after police pulled him and a friend over after the driver reportedly failed to signal when changing lanes. Renfro was already on probation from an incident last year in which he and a friend tried to steal a 45-foot yacht in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., during the filming of the upcoming Bully. The duo however, failed to untie the boat's dockline and ended up causing $175,000 worth of damages to the vessel. Witnesses held the two until police arrived. In 1998, Renfro was arrested for drug possession. The actor has appeared in 12 films.
Home Alone star Macaulay Culkin also made headlines as a child. The third of seven kids, Culkin had a bitter ongoing feud with his father, Kit Culkin, who managed his career. At 14, he no longer wanted to act and told his family and representatives that he just wanted to go to school and make friends. He later told Barbara Walters on an interview with 20/20 that the four years he spent in Hollywood with his father were all work and no play and often felt discouraged by the situation. Culkin married Rachel Miner when he was 17, but the two announced their separation in early 2000.
Actress Drew Barrymore also is known for having led a wild and rebellious life. Made famous by her role in Steven Spielberg's E.T. The Extra Terrestrial at 7 years old, Barrymore was drinking and abusing drugs at an age when most girls are still playing with dolls. Coming from a Hollywood-bred family, Barrymore soon gained a reputation for being a promiscuous wild child. Though she has since overcome her addictions, she will always be remembered as "the little girl lost" who, at 14, was in drug rehab.
No television show spawned as many troubled child actors as did the sitcom Different Strokes, which ran on NBC from 1978 to 1986. Gary Coleman, Todd Bridges and Dana Plato, who starred on the series during its eight-year run, all took a delinquent turn for the worst.
Coleman was taken into custody in 1999 after police at a sobriety checkpoint reportedly noticed an expired license plate and discovered he was wanted on an outstanding warrant. He had reportedly failed to pay a $400 fine for disturbing the peace. That stemmed from a 1998 incident in which Coleman attacked a 205-pound female bus driver in a Los Angeles store. Coleman admitted punching the woman in the face. Coleman's sentence included a year's probation and anger-management sessions.
Bridges earned a bad reputation for numerous arrests from the mid-1980s to the mid-1990s. He had been arrested on drug and assault charges and, in 1989, was acquitted of attempted murder. He is now clean and sober.
Plato's rap sheet included arrests for forging Valium prescriptions and robbing a Las Vegas video store with a toy gun. She underwent drug rehabilitation but eventually died of an overdose in May 1999. Her death was later ruled a suicide because of the high level of drugs in her body and a history of suicidal tendencies. The day before her death, Plato had appeared on The Howard Stern Show, defending her sobriety.
Hollywood.com writer Erika Gimenes contributed to this story

Top Story
The Eagles, Billy Joel, No Doubt, Eddie Vedder and the Dixie Chicks are just some of the music artists demanding better relationships with record labels. To that end, those artists will be performing at four concerts in Los Angeles with proceeds to benefit the two-year-old Recording Artists Coalition, which wants to be a watchdog agency for all musicians and was founded by Eagles frontman Don Henley.
Hollywood.com has learned that the bloated recording industry establishment hired Mad magazine's Alfred E. Neuman to be its spokesman. In his first act as spokesman, Neuman told reporters: "What, me worry?"
In General
King of Pop Michael Jackson won't be performing at the Grammys, although he made plans to do so last month. Despite the fact he refused to perform at the American Music Awards in January so he would be allowed to perform at the upcoming Grammys, the awards show sponsor--the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences--confirmed Jackson won't be among the entertainers. No word is forthcoming from Jackson's Neverland compound, but we think the King of Pop is still pouting after Bubbles told Jackson he likes Macaulay Culkin better.
Sir Ian McKellen (Gandalf the Wizard from Lord of the Rings) told BBC TV Monday that his "money is absolutely on Lord of the Rings" to win the Academy Award for best picture. It's rumored that evil Sauron the Dark Lord has bet all his money on his vision for Middle-earth: Moulin Rouge.
From the world of second, third and fourth chances, self-destructive Robert Downey Jr. is set to star in The Singing Detective, a Mel Gibson-produced film based on the BBC series of the same name. Michael Gambon originally starred as the title protagonist, who has a high fever that destroys his perception of reality. Downey should be perfect for this part: He knows all about altered mental states.
Director James Cameron (Spider-Man) is joining other celebs in the annual Toyota Pro/Celebrity Race in Long Beach, which benefits a program for a children's hospital in Long Beach and Orange County. Frankly, after what happened in Titanic, we're surprised Toyota would let Cameron pilot anything bigger than a tricycle.
First Matthew McConaughey gets hitched, and now he's about to be ditched. The co-star of The Wedding Planner is in negotiations to return to romantic comedy, as McConaughey is up to star opposite Kate Hudson in How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days. The movie Hollywood.com really wants to see made is, of course, How to Lose Your Mother-in-Law in 10 Days--now that would be a box office hit.
Britain's Queen Elizabeth is celebrating 50 years of rule, and England's throwing a big concert in her honor: two of them, in fact. Eric Clapton, Aretha Franklin, Elton John, Paul McCartney and opera star Kiri Te Kanawa are just some of the headliners set to fete the Queen for her Golden Jubilee with two open-air concerts in June. Hollywood.com is sad to report that Britain's own Herman's Hermits isn't on the list of performers.
West Wing producer Aaron Sorkin told The New Yorker magazine that "The media is waving pom-poms, and the entire public is being polite" with regard to President Bush, as the media have laid off "the bubblehead jokes" long enough.
A spokesman for Malcolm in the Middle star Jane Kaczmarek insists that it was a migraine, and not a salary dispute, that caused Kaczmarek to walk off the set of the Fox hit show two weeks ago. Kaczmarek has since returned to the set..
The personal writings of late Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain have been purchased by the Riverhead publishing label for close to $4 million. The 23 notebooks contain close to 800 pages of Cobain's notes, and fans hope there's some clue as to why the popular singer committed suicide in 1994 at the age of 27. (As if waking up next to Courtney Love each morning isn't enough to send most men over the edge.)
Fred Durst, lead singer for band Limp Bizkit, has agreed to testify--either by written statements or via satellite video--at the Australia inquest of a 15-year-old girl who suffered a heart attack during a stage rush at a Bizkit concert in Sydney and died five days later. Durst said he was too busy to attend in person.
Diva Celine Dion's self-proclaimed retirement is at an end. The Canadian singer will perform at L.A.'s Kodak Theater this Sunday as part of a CBS TV special, along with Destiny's Child. Dion also signed a reported $100 million contract to perform at Las Vegas' Caesars Palace five nights a week for three years. Looks like Wayne Newton will be facing some stiff competition.
Being a Hollywood star doesn't mean much in London, but being ex-President Clinton's daughter seems to count much more. Chelsea Clinton, 21, was the hit of the The Shipping News premiere Monday night, outshining some of Tinseltown's luminaries. Clinton signed autographs and chatted with fans. (Hollywood.com has learned that some female fans really talked to Chelsea only to get her dad's mobile phone number.)
Johnny Cash is nearly 70, but is feeling better than he has in a while. "I've felt really good these last few months, better than I've felt in the last three years," Cash told the AP. Cash is currently working on finishing an album, American IV.
Warning: "ER" Spoiler
If they're such good doctors, how come people keep dying? PageSix.com is reporting that Dr. Mark Greene's (Anthony Edwards) exit from ER will be occasioned by his passing due to a recurrence of his brain tumor. Greene isn't the first major character to be killed off: Med student Lucy Knight was brutally stabbed to death a few years ago. Edwards' departure leaves Noah Wyle the sole remaining original cast member who's been on the show continuously since day one.

Actor Brad Renfro reported to the set of "Bully" in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., on Wednesday, one day after the teen was released from jail for allegedly trying to steal a boat. The "Apt Pupil" and "Client" star, 18, and a friend, Harold Bond, 24, were arrested Monday by police after the pair were apprehended for attempting to commandeer a 45-foot luxury vessel valued at $175,000. According to police reports, the duo forgot to untie the dock lines, bouncing the boat back and damaging the stern.
Renfro was released after posting $10,000 bond Tuesday. He is charged with grand theft in the incident.
The actor is in Florida to work on the Larry Clark film for Tri-Mark/Lions Gate about a group of teenagers who grow tired of being picked on by the school bully. When the bully’s best friend (Renfro) and his girlfriend (Rachel "Mrs. Macaulay Culkin" Miner) decide that life would be better without the bully, eight of the teens lure him to a swamp and kill him.
Sounds uplifting.
Renfro has had trouble with the law before. In 1998, he was arrested after police found heroine and cocaine in his front pocket.

Ailing
Rosie O'Donnell reveals in the August issue of her magazine Rosie that she has been depressed for years, according to Entertainment Tonight. She originally resisted taking medication, fearing it was a cowardly way to live, but has now been on antidepressants for two years. The talk show host said she was pushed over the edge by the Columbine shootings and a celebrity benefit she attended, where she found herself sobbing throughout the evening.
Singer Rick Springfield broke his arm during a performance at the MGM Grand hotel-casino in Las Vegas, The Associated Press reports. He treated and released Tuesday at University Medical Center. The singer fell from a 20-foot high beam that is used to lower him on to the stage in the show's last scene. In EFX Alive, Springfield takes the audience on a journey to the worlds of wizard Merlin, showman P.T. Barnum, illusionist Harry Houdini and sci-fi writer H.G. Wells.
Honored
A park honoring Theodor Seuss Geisel, a k a Dr.Seuss, will open in Springfield, Mass., on June 1, AP reports. The Seuss Heritage Park and National Memorial will feature 30 bronze statues of Geisel's literary characters including Horton, Thidwick the Moose and Cat in the Hat. Geisel's stepdaughter, Lark Diamod-Kates, designed the sculptures. Geisel died in 1991 at age 87.
To commemorate the comedienne's 90th birthday, the U.S. Postal Service will unveil a stamp honoring Lucille Ball, Reuters reports. The stamp will be the seventh in the Postal Service's Legend of Hollywood Series. Others have included Marilyn Monroe, James Dean, Humphrey Bogart, Alfred Hitchcock, James Cagney and Edward G Robinson. Ball, who was best known for her 1950's sitcom I Love Lucy, died in 1989 at the age of 78.
In Court
William Dail, the road manager for Insane Clown Posse, has pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct for choking an Eminem fan, AP reports. The fan apparently held up an Eminem T-shirt and chucked some M&amp;M candies at two clowned-faced band members following an Insane Clown Posse concert in Omaha, Neb., in May. The 24-year-old man was taken outside where Dail then choked him until he blacked out. Dail agreed to plead guilty of one count of disorderly conduct and pay a $100 fine.
In general
The West Wing creator Aaron Sorkin said in two magazine articles that his arrest in April was not due to a chronic drug habit but sporadic use, Reuters reports. Sorkin was arrested at a Burbank airport in April after airport employees found marijuana, crack and hallucinogenic mushrooms in his bag. Sorkin told TV Guide that he has broken his sobriety since 1997 by occasional drug use. He said he would smoke pot from time to time to relax, and likened it to having a martini at the end of a long day. Sorkin also said he used crack less than five times in the last two years. In a September issue of Talk magazine, Sorkin said he would used drugs after work to celebrate the pressure being off. "There's no way I could be writing high and not have people know it,"he said.
Robert Downey Jr. was back at work on Tuesday. Variety reports that the actor filmed a music video for the song I Want Love, the first single from Elton John's new CD Songs From the West Coast. Ed Limato, Downey's agent, said that the actor had received several important offers in film and TV roles.
A new biography of Natalie Wood claims the actress was raped as a teenager by an unnamed actor, the BBC reports. According to author Suzanne Finstad, Woods was 16 when she was raped by a "powerful, married movie star." Finstad chose not to name the actor so that people would focus on Wood's horror and trauma. She also added that Wood's mother conspired to keep the rape a secret. The book also details the events leading up to the actress' drowning in 1981 during a boat trip with actors Robert Wagner and Christopher Walken. Wagner has said there are many errors in the book and is upset that the inaccuracies have been published.
Director Steven Spielberg has decided to scale down his plans for a riding ring complex at his home in the Brentwood section of Los Angeles, Reuters reports. Neighbors initially objected to the plan, saying the 27,000-square-foot domed monstrosity would clash with the rustic style of the nearby homes. Spielberg reworked the plans and came up with a smaller dome-less version that has met with local approval. The stable will house four or five horses and be surrounded by a 6-foot high gate.
Mick Jagger will release his fourth solo album in November, Virgin Records has announced. According to Reuters, Jagger, 58, has been recording the album with Pete Townshend, Missy Elliott, Lenny Kravitz and Rob Thomas.
Michael Jackson's 30th anniversary all-star concerts at Madison Square Garden in New York sold out in less than five hours, AP reports. Michael Jackson: 30th Anniversary Celebration, The Solo Years will be Jackson's first with his brothers since the 1994 Victory tour in 1984. Other artists scheduled to appear are Whitney Houston, Gladys Knight, Ray Charles, Britney Spears, Ricky Martin and N 'Sync. Marlon Brando, Elizabeth Taylor, William Shatner, Quincy Jones, Kobe Bryant, Willem Dafoe and Macaulay Culkin will also pay tribute to the pop star.

Another negotiating session between the Writers Guild of America and the Association of Motion Picture and Television Producers was scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. today, with several news reports suggesting that a settlement could be announced by the end of the day. Speaking at an investors conference in New York, Viacom chief Sumner Redstone said that his mood about the negotiations had changed to "cautiously optimistic" from "cautiously pessimistic" a few weeks ago. However, negotiators for both sides formally maintained a strict news blackout. "It is critical at this stage in the negotiations that the discussions remain in the room rather than negotiated through the media," WGA spokeswoman Cheryl Rhoden said Thursday. Barry Liden, a spokesman for the producers, said only, "I think both parties are interested in trying to reach a settlement as soon as possible."
TINA BECOMES $1-MILLION SURVIVOR
Defying Las Vegas oddsmakers, Tina Wesson won the $1-million top prize Thursday on Survivor: The Australian Outback. Favorite Colby Donaldson received the $100,000 "consolation prize." Although a great show was made of the fact that the final ballots were placed under guard and flown to Los Angeles, where they were not opened until Thursday night's broadcast, some TV writers were skeptical, noting that several Web sites, claiming that they had received inside information from a disgruntled network writer, had correctly posted the names of the winners of the last seven episodes, including the finale. Television critics appeared to agree that the final episode of the second Survivor series lacked the punch of last year's Survivor finale, but that it was effective nonetheless. Jonathan Storm, the television critic for the Philadelphia Inquirer called the show "agonizingly prolonged, stunningly hokey, yet surprisingly emotional and dramatic."
"BUFFY" "FINALE" ISN'T
Having lost its top-rated Buffy the Vampire Slayer sitcom to UPN, which is paying $2.2 million for each episode next season, The WB is promoting the final three episodes as the "WB series finale." Some analysts are suggesting that although technically correct, the promos are misleading. Bill Carroll, vice president of programming at Katz Television, told Friday's New York Post that, while the core fans of the series are aware of the network switch, "the more casual viewer might get the wrong impression, although technically they're saying the truth: it is the final three episodes of Buffy that will air on the WB."
12 BUGS BUNNY CARTOONS YANKED FROM NETWORK MARATHON
Turner Broadcasting's Cartoon Network has removed 12 cartoons from a Bugs Bunny Marathon set for next month because they include racial and ethnic stereotypes, the Wall Street Journal reported Friday. The newspaper said that although the 12 cartoons were originally going to be accompanied by prominent disclaimers ("Cartoon Network does not endorse the use of racial slurs. These vintage cartoons are presented as representative of the time in which they were created and are presented for their historical value."), executives of the network decided to yank them after receiving messages from executives of corporate sibling Warner Bros. expressing their displeasure. Warner's, the newspaper said, "stopped short of a veto."
TRIAL OF ALLEGED KILLER OF BBC ANCHOR BEGINS
The trial of Barry George for the murder of popular BBC anchor Jill Dando in April 1999 opened on Friday in London, with the chief prosecutor indicating in his opening remarks that George, a onetime BBC messenger, may have been holding a grudge against the public broadcasting corporation. (As reported in Friday's London Evening Standard, George once told a woman at a bus stop that he hated the BBC because of the way it had treated his idol, the late Freddie Mercury of the rock group Queen. Dando had once participated in a BBC skit spoofing Mercury, the newspaper said.) Prosecutor Orlando Pownall added, however, "Whether he harbored a hidden grudge against her [Dando] ... is impossible to determine ... [but] it is not for the Crown to prove motive. There are compelling categories of circumstantial evidence which, when taken together, prove that Barry George was the man who was responsible for killing Jill Dando."
MOVIE REVIEWS: "THE MUMMY RETURNS"
The Mummy Returns is likely to drive last week's box-office winner Driven off the track and leave the rest of the competition far behind in the dust, most trade analysts agreed. The original 1999 film opened with $43.4 million, and analysts predicted that the sequel will at least do as well. But many critics were not persuaded that it's worth the price of admission. As the New York Times' Elvis Mitchell observed, "This enterprise is to the movies what an average boy band is to pop; just because there's an audience for it doesn't mean it's any good." Kenneth Turan puts it this way: "If you've been looking for a film like The Mummy Returns, The Mummy Returns is the film you've been looking for." Several critics commented that the sequel is not as entertaining as the original (they didn't like the original much, either), but Jonathan Foreman in the New York Post adds that the movie "is still perfectly enjoyable swashbuckling, eye-catching entertainment." Many critics note that the film is the first film of the summer (well, almost summer) aimed at teenage boys. But Philip Wuntch in the Dallas Morning News goes on to say, "its gleeful fun should appeal to all age brackets." Bob Longino in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution comments that, "like its predecessor, The Mummy Returns leaps and bounds, jokes and scares, roars and double-roars. And not for a single second does it ever feel real." But Roger Ebert in the Chicago Sun-Times faults the film for attempting to pack too much action into its two-hour length -- the very thing that is likely to draw the target audience. "Imagine yourself on a roller coaster for two hours," he remarks. "After the first 10 minutes, the thrills subside." (Apparently Ebert hasn't been around teenagers at amusement parks who eagerly ride roller coasters for an entire day.) Across town, Mark Caro in the Chicago Tribune likens watching the movie to a different kind of experience. It is, he says, "like standing behind someone playing a pretty cool video game. You may feel some vicarious excitement, but eventually you'd rather experience your own thrills."
CULKIN FINDS A WARM HOME OFF-BROADWAY
Former child film star Macaulay Culkin made his Off-Broadway debut Thursday in Madame Melville drawing solid notices. (He had originally starred in the play in London.) "Macaulay Culkin turns out to be quite the actor," writes Donald Lyons in Friday's New York Post, commenting also that he "embodies with remarkable poetry" the character that he plays, who is at times 30 years old (or older) and at others 15. Culkin is 20. Ben Brantley in the New York times comments that Culkin's performance "isn't all that accomplished by traditional standards. ... Yet this actor, who ruled the Hollywood box office before he turned 12 with hits like Home Alone and its sequel, turns out to serve the purposes of Madame Melville very well indeed."
CANADIAN COLUMNIST ACCUSES CHRISTY
The scandal over the Hollywood Reporter's freeloading gossip columnist George Christy has spread to Canada, where Toronto Star columnist Sid Adilman reported today (Friday) that Christy accepts free airfare, hotel accommodations and expenses to attend the annual Toronto and Montreal film festivals. At the Toronto festival, Adilman said, Christy also hosts a luncheon for visiting celebrities and local "movers and shakers" at the Four Seasons Hotel. Adilman reports that Gabrielle Free (sic), the festival's publicist, denied that it pays for his hotel, his expenses, or the celebrity lunch, although she acknowledged that it does pay for his airfare. The Reporter does not pay for the lunch, Adilman added. The Four Seasons Hotel declined to comment.
CAMERON SAYS DIGITAL CAMERAS WILL TRANSFORM FILMMAKING
Director James Cameron says that the development of small, digital, high-definition cameras will release filmmakers from many of the constraints that film cameras have imposed on them in the past. "One of the great advantages of HD, which hasn't really been thought about, is the size of equipment and its relation to the scene you're shooting," he said. As reported by the online edition of Britain's Empire magazine, Cameron remarked that traditional film technology, in which the film reel has to be physically adjacent to the lens, is "an ancient system...There will be much more flexibility and fluidity of movement because the physical size of the camera is so small."
S.F. FILM FESTIVAL WINDS UP
The San Francisco International Film Festival wound up Thursday, reporting record attendance of 80,893, up 18 percent over last year. The festival awarded its $10,000 SKYY Prize ("to recognize a first-time feature filmmaker whose film exhibits unique artistic sensibility") to Patrick Stettner's The Business of Strangers starring Stockard Channing and Julia Stiles.

Jennifer Lopez is money.
According to the January issue of Allure magazine, the singer-actress's $9 million paycheck for the upcoming film "The Wedding Planner" has made her the highest paid Hispanic woman in film history.
The figure would make Lopez just a mere $11 million behind Julia Roberts, the highest paid actress in film industry.
SPIELBERG PUT ON HOLD: Steven Spielberg would like the residents of Brentwood, Calif., to know that he really does care.
The gazillionaire director of "Saving Private Ryan," "Schindler's List" and "Jaws" has temporarily halted plans to construct a $7 million horse-riding range in the aforementioned city due to heated criticisms from the neighbors of the proposed site, Reuters says.
However, the filmmaker's spokesman, Marvin Levy, insisted that Spielberg will not scrap the construction plans and would refile his application with the Los Angeles Zoning Administration after fielding the irked residents' woes.
"There will be another submission,'' Levy said. "They are listening to the neighbors, and the only way to really continue that process is to withdraw the application.''
MAC ATTACK: Erstwhile "Home Alone" kid Macaulay Culkin's parents are being sued by Travelers Property Casualty -- an insurance company -- for a fire that started in the Culkin family's high rise in 1998.
The insurance company is seeking more than $113,000 that it paid to tenants who suffered losses in the fire. Also named in the lawsuit are the owners and managers of the apartment building.

Former child star Macaulay Culkin, of "Home Alone" fame, made his debut on the London stage Wednesday night after six years away from the acting limelight. Culkin, now 20, plays a 15-year-old schoolboy who has an affair with his French instructor, played by Irene Jacob, in "Madame Melville." Many in the London theater audience reportedly found the still-boyish actor's seduction scenes awkward and strained.
Once the hottest child star in Hollywood, Culkin's career lost steam by the time he turned 14. Contributing to the demise were the outlandish demands made by his father and manager, Kit Culkin, as well as a bitter custody battle between the child actor's parents.
Estimated to have earned $30 million to $50 million from his handful of films, Culkin married actress Rachel Miner, both 17 at the time, in 1998. The couple recently separated.

Macaulay Culkin and his wife Rachel Miner have separated, a publicist for the erstwhile "Home Alone" star confirmed today. News of the breakup appeared on Entertainment Tonight’s Web site today. According to the actor’s camp, the split is "very amicable" and the ex-lovebirds "remain the best of friends."
Culkin’s publicist, Paul Bloch, told Hollywood.com that the "E.T." report is "accurate" but declined further comment. The couple have been married two years.
Culkin, 19, made his mark as a child star in the wildly successful "Home Alone" flicks in the 1990s. Miner, 20, appeared in the Broadway production of "The Diary of Anne Frank" and on the soap "The Guiding Light."
The two started dating in 1997 and got hitched in 1998.

Funny Keanu Reeves doesn't look like Walter Matthau. But our favorite deadpan hunk will make like Mr. Matthau (the "Bad News Bears" years) in "Hardball," a new comedy about an inner-city Little League team that Daily Variety says Reeves will star in for Brian Robbins, the ex-"Head of the Class" kid who directed "Varsity Blues," which did not star either Reeves or Matthau, but instead featured that current "Dawson's Creek" kid.
Whew.
SORT OF THE MATT DRUDGE OF HIS DAY -- MINUS THE WEB SITE: According to Variety, John Cusack is in talks to star in and executive produce a remake of "Sweet Smell of Success," the 1957 Burt Lancaster-Tony Curtis movie not-so-loosely based on the legendary columnist Walter Winchell.
MAKING A DECISION IS HELL: Tobey Maguire ("The Cider House Rules") is mulling a starring role in the World War II period drama "Hart's War," The Hollywood Reporter says.
MACAULAY WHO? Kieran Culkin, younger brother of you-used-to-know-who-but-since-he-hasn't-been-in-anything-in-a-while-you-forgot, has been tapped to star opposite Jena Malone in the Jodie Foster-produced "The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys."
SOME FOLKS CALL IT 'SLING BLADE': Billy Bob Thornton and Frances McDormand will handle lead acting duties in the new movie from the Brothers Coen ("Fargo"), Variety says. Right now, the flick's merely dubbed "the barber project."

Returned off-Broadway to the Ensemble Studio Theater to take part in a reading of Keith Reddin's "Sam I Am" (consisting of two one-act plays, "The Big Squirrel," in which Culkin had starred in 1987, and "Mister Softee")

Began career at age 4 in stage production of "Bach Babies" at New York Symphony Space, New York (date approximate)

In August, announced he would not accept any acting roles until issues of parental custody were settled

Played a wheel chair-bound student in a Conservative Christian highschool in "Saved," opposite Jena Malone and Mandy Moore

Hosted "Saturday Night Live" (November 23)

Featured in the controversial Michael Jackson video "Black or White", directed by John Landis

First starring feature role, "Home Alone"

Returned to feature films to portray NYC club kid Michael Alig in "The Party Monster"

Performed in several TV commercials

Summary

The late 20th century's answer to the juggernaut child star success of Shirley Temple, Macaulay Culkin ruled Hollywood as a preteen, but had difficulty sustaining a second act. Acting almost since infancy, Culkin stood out as a precocious, charming child in "Rocket Gibraltar" (1988) and "Uncle Buck" (1989), where he first captured writer-director John Hughes's imagination. Hughes wrote the massively influential and successful "Home Alone" (1990) for him, which crystallized Culkin as <i>the</i> star of the era. Its sequel (1992) as well as the bittersweet "My Girl" (1991) and dark, troubling "The Good Son" (1993) continued his golden track record, but Culkin's merciless stage father Kit pushed him into a string of lucrative but hollow projects like "The Pagemaster" (1994) and "Ri¢hie Ri¢h" (1994), effectively pushing the youngster out of the business. As his family imploded and adolescence loomed, Culkin bitterly retired. The public's fascination with the blond phenomenon never quite subsided, however, fueled in part by his close friendship with pop superstar Michael Jackson, and later, as he staged a semi-successful indie comeback with "Party Monster" (2003) and "Saved!" (2004). While the chances of him recapturing the level of power and success he once enjoyed as a child were slim, the adult Culkin seemed more interested in carving out a more modest career on his own terms.

born c. 1954; gained custody and wrested control of Macaulay's career from Kit; separated from Kit Culkin 1995; never married to Culkin

Chris Culkin

Father

born c. 1944; separated from Patricia Brentrup 1995; lost control of Macaulay's career in 1995; also lost custody of Culkin brood 1995; regained joint custody June 1995; dropped custody suit in 1997; never married to Brentrup

born c. 1979; died December 10, 2008 after being struck by a car while crossing a Los Angeles street; cause of death was massive head trauma

Quinn Culkin

Sister

born on November 8, 1984; acting debut at one in NYC stage production of "Bach Babies"; provided a voice for Culkin's "Wishkid" cartoon series (1991-92) and made her feature debut in "The Good Son" (1993)

born on July 19, 1980; announced engagement in March 1998; married on June 21, 1998 in Connecticut; reportedly had rocky relationship; announced separation in August 2000; divorced in 2001

Education

Name

St Joseph's School of Yorkville, New York

Professional Children's School

Notes

"As the star of 'Home Alone', the $18.2 million movie that has grossed more than $281 million, the third-largest gross in history ... Macaulay and Kit Culkin, his father and manager, have some of the most powerful leverage in Hollywood. And they're using it."---Bernard Weinraub in The New York Times November 4, 1991

Culkin shared a Winnebago dressing room with Michael ('King of Pop') Jackson for the Presidential Gala in honor of President Clinton's inauguration.

"I've done 14 films and never looked at one script. I was just a machine. My father would go over what I was doing next day, I'd go on the set, do it, come home, go over what we were going to do the next morning. I had really no sense of the actual film. After a while I did not care any more. I had been wanting to stop since I was about 11."---Culkin on why he decided to stop acting to Peter Lennon of Guardian Unlimited October 9, 2000

"We had very similar experiences in childhood. We're both going to be 8 years old forever in some place because we never had a chance to be 8 when we actually were."---Culkin on his long-time friendship with Michael Jackson to New York Magazine April 30, 2001

"I wouldn't trade any of my experiences for anything in the world. I'm very happy with who I am, and where I've ended up and I wouldn't change one thing. Because if you change one thing in the past, everything else is different."---Culkin to Barbara Walters on ABC News 20/20 September 5, 2004

On September 18, 2004 Culkin was arrested in Oklahoma City on suspicion of possessing marijuana and a controlled substance. Culkin was released on $4,000 bail after police said they found 17.3 grams of marijuana and prescription drugs which he had no prescription for.